Who knew it could be so complicated?: DeVos edition
Donald Trump, in a moment of rich irony, appears to have been caught just a bit off guard with just how complex the American health care system really was last week.
“Now, I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” he added. “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.”
Notwithstanding the fact that nearly every American who has been paying attention to the Obamacare/ACA debate (spoiler alert: they are the same thing!) could have let Donald know the situation was a little trickier than he seems to have thought it was, you’ve got to give credit where it’s due–yes, Mr. President; the health care system is both complex and complicated, and a lot of very smart persons have been working on it for a very long time. It took those very smart people quite a while to come up with a policy solution that has reduced the number of uninsured to historic lows, provide coverage for those with preexisting conditions, and extend coverage to children under 27 years of age. And even though I know these words I’m typing will fall on deaf ears, please don’t screw it up by repealing it only to replace it with…a nonexistent “plan” that the members of your own party can’t even seem to find.
Now, in another not-so-surprising bit of irony, it’s looking like Mr. Trump’s new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has also been laboring under the misconception that this education thing is actually pretty simple–and is about to receive a similarly rude awakening.
Ms. DeVos, who as it has been widely reported, never attended a public school, never sent her children to a public school, and has never taught anyone anything, now finds herself in charge of the American education system–which includes nearly 100,000 public schools educating over 50 million children. It should go without saying that such a huuuge system would be, by definition, extremely complicated and complex–and yet by all accounts, Ms. DeVos appears to believe that our nation’s educational system can be described as the somewhat simple interaction of three things: children, parents, and schools.
[The complete and utter lack of any mention of teachers in the rhetoric of Mr. Trump and Ms. DeVos has been conspicuous by its absence, especially to the nation’s teachers. Even worse, Ms. Devos’ frequent mentions of the virtues of online learning and virtual schools hint at her preferred vision of the future of education–a world of public school classrooms populated by huge numbers Who knew it could be so complicated?: DeVos edition | Eclectablog:
